, REMEMBER
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
, Remember
Christina Rossetti
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Written in the 19th century, Christina Rossetti was a Victorian poet known for her introspective and often
melancholic themes. The poem reflects Victorian sensibilities and attitudes towards love, death, and memory.
INTENTION/MEANING
The poem is a sonnet in which the speaker addresses a loved one, urging them to remember her after her
death. The intention is to convey a sense of separation due to mortality while also expressing a desire for the
memory of love to endure.
STRUCTURE
The poem consists of a single sonnet, with 14 lines and a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBACDCDCD. It follows the
Shakespearean sonnet structure, presenting a problem or question in the quatrains and a resolution or answer
in the final couplet.
POETIC DEVICES
• Metaphor: Love is compared to a burden that the speaker wishes to be relieved of after death.
• Repetition: The phrase "Remember me" is repeated for emphasis and emotional impact.
• Enjambment: Lines flow into each other, reflecting the continuity of memory beyond death.
TONE/MOOD
The tone is melancholic and contemplative. The mood is somber and reflective, with a mixture of resignation
and longing. The poem explores the bittersweet emotions associated with the inevitability of mortality and the
desire for lasting connection.
Summary
“Remember” is a Petrarchan sonnet.
The speaker addresses her beloved and encourages him to remember her after her death. She asks him to
remember her even when his memory of her begins to fade. Eventually, the speaker gives this person her
permission to forget her gradually because it is better to "forget and smile" than to "remember and be sad."
The octave
The speaker reminds her beloved that when she is gone into the silent land of death, he will no longer hold
her hand; he will no longer plan or speak of their future life together (seemingly her illness has prevented
them from marrying); he will no longer be able to comfort and counsel her and pray for her. Her request of
him is that, with all this that they will lose, he remember her. The theme is being remembered after death.
The speaker is self- centred: she is thinking only about herself.
The sestet
The narrator’s tone changes in the sestet. The narrator even renounces the need to be remembered, which is
ironic because the poem is titled “Remember.” She wishes for her beloved to be happy, even if that means
forgetting her. The narrator sacrifices her personal desire in an expression of true love.
Repetition
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
, Remember
Christina Rossetti
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Written in the 19th century, Christina Rossetti was a Victorian poet known for her introspective and often
melancholic themes. The poem reflects Victorian sensibilities and attitudes towards love, death, and memory.
INTENTION/MEANING
The poem is a sonnet in which the speaker addresses a loved one, urging them to remember her after her
death. The intention is to convey a sense of separation due to mortality while also expressing a desire for the
memory of love to endure.
STRUCTURE
The poem consists of a single sonnet, with 14 lines and a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBACDCDCD. It follows the
Shakespearean sonnet structure, presenting a problem or question in the quatrains and a resolution or answer
in the final couplet.
POETIC DEVICES
• Metaphor: Love is compared to a burden that the speaker wishes to be relieved of after death.
• Repetition: The phrase "Remember me" is repeated for emphasis and emotional impact.
• Enjambment: Lines flow into each other, reflecting the continuity of memory beyond death.
TONE/MOOD
The tone is melancholic and contemplative. The mood is somber and reflective, with a mixture of resignation
and longing. The poem explores the bittersweet emotions associated with the inevitability of mortality and the
desire for lasting connection.
Summary
“Remember” is a Petrarchan sonnet.
The speaker addresses her beloved and encourages him to remember her after her death. She asks him to
remember her even when his memory of her begins to fade. Eventually, the speaker gives this person her
permission to forget her gradually because it is better to "forget and smile" than to "remember and be sad."
The octave
The speaker reminds her beloved that when she is gone into the silent land of death, he will no longer hold
her hand; he will no longer plan or speak of their future life together (seemingly her illness has prevented
them from marrying); he will no longer be able to comfort and counsel her and pray for her. Her request of
him is that, with all this that they will lose, he remember her. The theme is being remembered after death.
The speaker is self- centred: she is thinking only about herself.
The sestet
The narrator’s tone changes in the sestet. The narrator even renounces the need to be remembered, which is
ironic because the poem is titled “Remember.” She wishes for her beloved to be happy, even if that means
forgetting her. The narrator sacrifices her personal desire in an expression of true love.
Repetition
